Richard Simmons – “Reach”

Personal Review:With all this hoopla going on with Richard Simmons’ being apparently held ‘hostage’ by his housekeeper, but I’m not here to discuss that. I’m here to discuss the record of Richard Simmons.

So, this LP is supposed to come with a Exercise Book, I guess to go to the songs on the album, but mine doesn’t have it. Anywho. It opens with “Wake Up” – and I’m like 100% it opens with someone snoring and yawning, and then Richard Simmons giving an introduction, a spoken word one at that! Oh boy, wow. I’m kind of at a loss with this, I was definitely not expecting this, it’s something real different. Exercise instructions, followed by praise, and a dance beat. Wow. After that the album continues onto “Don’t Tell Me” which seems to be a little bit more musically driven as opposed to a exercise instructional thing, but you know it is, because it is Richard Simmons. Then comes “Lift It Up” and it’s kind of annoying, because Richard kind of comes off as one of those naggy boyfriends in this, and it’s like whoa, and the backing vocalists are kind of really annoying. Then we go onto “Laugh” which is actually not that bad, it’s a pretty good song with a good beat on this one, except for how it still sounds like exercise instructions. The A-Side closes with “You Can Do It” which opens with praise before Richard begins to sing a slow song. Yup. Richard Simmons is singing a slow song.

So, the B-Side opens with “What Are You Waiting For?” which honestly, sounds like a karaoke ballad at a bar, and well, it’s definitely a bit more disco-y than anything, it’s a bit of a headrush too. The title track comes next, and well, it’s definitely a ride there, it’s a big pop dance song, it’s a little intense. “Stop and Start” comes next, and it’s decent, not overly bad, but decent. “Live It” comes next, and you know, these praise songs that are on this are kind of interesting in their own way, and the album ends with “This Time” which is another slow song, so it’s just interesting to hear this, it really shows how dedicated Richard is to his fans.

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2 Comments

This should be easy to find on the second-hand market. I remember reading that a record store manager complaining that Richard Simmons’ record company tried to sell him a crateload of ‘Reach.’ ‘Reach’ went Top Ten, but a lot of copies went unsold.